Minimal bioinspired systems: disentangling cellular complexity and developing biomimetic materials.

• Applicant: Dr. Isabella Guido
• Subject Area: Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511767212

Biological cells perform remarkable functions, such as migration, division, intracellular transport by controlling the force generation of the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is an out-of-equilibrium network composed of biopolymers and their corresponding motor proteins and cross-linkers. By converting free energy into mechanical work it self-organises determining the mechanical and dynamic behaviour of cells. Many efforts have been made to assemble bioinspired systems to unravel the mystery of the cytoskeleton self-organisation. However, reproducing the complex behaviour of the cytoskeleton in synthetic structures that show life-like dynamics typical of those intracellular systems remains a major challenge. In this project, I propose a novel way to address this challenge by developing a bioinspired system consisting of cytoskeletal components, namely microtubules and motor proteins, assembled from the bottom up. In this way the complexity of the cell will be reduced to a minimal structure that mimics the cytoskeleton in its simplest form. The goal of this project is to investigate how active cytoskeletal networks reconfigure their emergent self-organisation and transition through different dynamic regimes under external mechanical stimuli and geometric constraints. To this end, the active system will be enclosed in compartments produced by microfluidics that mimic the cell environment and external forces will be applied. The influence of the mechanical stimulation on the self-organisation of the active network will be characterized. In this way, I can investigate the coupling between the active forces of the bioinspired networks and the external constraints acting on them, and determine how tuning the spatiotemporal distribution of the driving forces can alter the qualitative nature of the active dynamics. The results of my work will contribute to the understanding of the fundamental principles underlying cell processes and simultaneously lead to synthetic bioinspired systems able to mimic natural structures. The dynamic behaviour of synthetic assemblies constructed in this project will enable to shed light on the interplay between intracellular and extracellular space and lead to the development of non-equilibrium controllable molecular micromachines that can foster the engineering of innovative biomaterials.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants